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Steps to Overcoming Procrastination

Had an amazing session on the evening of 30th August 2017 (Memorable day forever for sure), to talk about steps to overcome procrastination, conducted by Sam Brent, a coach, a mentor and importantly a friend.

The session was set up at Donny’s Bar in Manly, which is one of the best suburbs in Sydney to be and host to the famous Manly beach. On the cold evening of the second last day of the official winter, I could take the famous Manly Ferry and reach the venue just on time. To my excitement, there were some amazing participants, who had already arrived. Even Robin, who was the guest speaker was present there. I have attended Sam’s event before and what I like is that he always has an exercise to do. This time, it was about finding what other procrastinate about, why they think they do so and what impact it is having on their life. The exercise, gives an opportunity to network automatically with others and dwell deeper into each other’s lives, instead of just superficially understanding as to what they do primarily. Got a variety of things from different people, who procrastinate about things which they know are important and aware of, but not able to attack and complete. Lot of learning, of course and helps in making instant connects and friends.

Coming to the main event, this one had an advantage of two amazing speakers on the stage, Sam and Robin. Started with the question of what is procrastination? For different people, it meant differently but the best one that I found was mentioned by Sean and Penelope, which was about avoiding a task and postponing it again and again. Then, Sean and Robin started the important reasons as to why people avoid tasks and how to overcome the reasons:

Lack of energy

People tend to avoid tasks due to having a lack of energy to complete the task or the excitement to complete the task. One can take care of this issue by following the tips below:

Drink enough water. Average person to drink 2.5 – 4 litres of water everyday and that keeps the metabolism going to have the energy levels maintained

Government recommendation is to have 2.5 hours of exercise per week (Half an hour every day with the weekend off)

Lack of focus

I could relate to this one as I am trying to accomplish certain tasks but looks like do not have the focus to do so and this was very nicely covered in the session. People do not have focus due to not been able to have a reason to do the tasks. Small picture, big picture, all these really matters. Tips to help overcome this problem is

Create a goal, a SMART goal

Follow it up with a plan. Amazing tip was to plan the next day hour by hour before going to the bed every day.

Fear of Loss

People do not take actions as they fear the loss that may result from the outcome of the action. What can we do?

Think of loss as a myth. It is a learning opportunity. If one has not taken any action due to fear of loss, the person has already lost it

Have an accountability partner, who can help with keep one accountable of the actions. The best tip of the event was to take advantage of social media and make your friends and followers your accountability partners by announcing your tasks and hence having the pressure on you to accomplish them.

Perfectionism

This is another one, that I could relate to. Would like to do things perfectly and people strive to achieve these due to the conditioning of the mind. I grew up, hearing that practice makes man perfect. Again, this leads to people avoiding things, as they feel they are not yet perfect and hence not able to accomplish the desired results due to non-completion of tasks. What may one do?

Again, think of perfectionism as a myth. Strive for excellence.

Weigh in the benefit of time, cost vs quality (This one, I am adding on my own, but thought could be relevant)

After discussing all the wonderful things listed above, Sam made us do a ritual, which I wouldn’t describe here as I won’t be able to do justice to the ritual due to the limitation of my understanding of it, and the best person to talk to, would be Sam himself. But one thing I would like to share is, that the ritual helped me in realizing the goals and showed me a brief path to achieve them psychologically. Mind can play wonders and Sam can help in harnessing the power of mind, truly can.

To end the session, Robin shared some techniques to help switch over and get on with the tasks. A breathing technique, which can help recharge in less than a minute.